Three Little Words
by LianatheWingedDrummer16
Summary: Another one-shot from one of the other characters in DS3, this time from Ellie's point of view. Ellie reflects on what she feels is her biggest mistake as the world around her burns. *DS3 SPOILERS*


**I felt the absolute need to write another one-shot for Isaac and Ellie because the Dead Space archive has been so quiet lately. It's making me depressed, and I needed some fluff and love from my favorite couple of all time to cheer myself up. I hope you enjoy it, even though it's short. **

ELLIE POV

Three little words could change everything.

Three little words could send a girl spinning into absolute bliss and a lifetime of happiness and love. Three little words could bring tears to people's eyes as a loved one passed on and left them behind with nothing but memories.

Those three same words she had never gotten to say to Isaac.

She regretted it, for sure; she regretted not ever having told the one man she'd ever really cared about - and would ever care about - her true feelings.

She regretted having broken both of their hearts with the inclusion of another man into her romantic life. Robert Norton, captain of the last EarthGov battalion, had been an attempt to forget what she had left behind, an effort to escape the pain of leaving Isaac.

It didn't work out very well.

Robert and Isaac had butted heads repeatedly and extremely heatedly, arguing when there was no need to and nearly sabotaging the mission with their angry words and sarcastic comments. It was clear that most of them were about her, and although most other women might have found it flattering, Ellie was merely disturbed and irritated. She even had to break some of their fights up when they were about to escalate to the point of no return, and even then they coldly refused to speak to each other.

After their disputes, Robert sometimes refused to speak to her as well. He gave her the cold shoulder, clearly unwilling to acknowledge the woman who was caught in the middle, and she would feel hurt and upset for a little while.

But Isaac was always open to talk. He never belittled her or tried to make her feel bad, unless she counted the time when he had sort of blown her off just before he set off to decipher the Marker script. Ellie knew he still cared for her, still wanted to be with her even though she was in the arms of Robert. Isaac had never given up on her. He'd never wanted to let go of her, like he'd said when they were still aboard the Roanoke, and it hurt her heart and her very soul to know that he was in pain.

Ellie was confused. She'd never been the best at deciphering her own feelings, except for the obvious ones like sadness or anger or happiness.

But this was much different, so confusing and body-consuming that she was surprised she hadn't simply melted into a puddle.

This was sadness on steroids, this was hyped-up angst, this was happiness and need and upset longing all stuffed inside her heart and pretty much spilling over the edges. Ellie had never felt that way in her entire life, had never felt so conflicted and almost in physical pain from the stress of seeing Isaac and her current boyfriend and not quite knowing who she would choose.

Actually, she did somewhat know, but it was still difficult to come to terms with the fact that she would have been leading Robert on. She did have a little something for the captain, probably just like a schoolgirl crush of sorts, but she knew it wasn't real, that it absolutely paled in comparison to the ocean of reasons she knew Isaac was the one.

And yet she had never told him.

Isaac had never told her either, something that actually irked her at times, but she knew that he was feeling the connection too. He had just never said it or gotten to say it, and she could understand that given the awful circumstances he'd fought through and survived. It would be hard to get attached when he knew that there was a very real possibility of losing the person.

Ellie could understand that. Isaac had suffered a lot of trauma, and she sure as hell would not get pissed at him for being cautious when he'd already lost so much.

There had been times, back before she'd gotten involved in the Tau Volantis incident, that she felt Isaac would say it. He'd admit that he felt something for her, she was convinced of that.

But when they started their relationship, it was simply a matter of them being with each other. They didn't need to say much; they never had, really. Even back on the Sprawl, she had known there would be something that the stranger of a civilian would change for her. It would be her life, her feelings, the words she spoke and wanted to say. Ellie had felt the need to say those three little words as well, but she never had.

And she felt the guilt nearly crack her in half when she left him.

It was all she could do to keep going out the door, heading for the people she knew would be on her side in stopping the Marker threat, after she had seen the heartbreaking look in his blue eyes although his face was as stoic as ever. He had asked her why she was leaving, why she was angrily throwing her clothes into a bag and grabbing almost everything she owned and stowing it all away. Her response was that she would find someone who would try to end it all with her, someone who would actually want to do another favor for the Earth and not just stand by while it all went to waste. And as she was storming out the door, belongings in hand, he had stopped her by saying her name quietly, gently, and she'd turned to look at him with angry tears still in her eyes. He'd said the first word, and she was internally willing him to say the rest of it maybe so she could find some consolation out of the whole problem, but he never had. Instead, he'd swallowed hard and said, "Take care," and that was it.

All the way to Tau Volantis, Ellie had mused over and thought hard about what was happening between them. There was no denying that she was still hung up over him, that she still had some sort of connection, broken as it was, to the engineer. They had both survived the Sprawl and worked together to get out of the nightmare, and she supposed that living through a Necromorph outbreak would bring two unlikely survivors together.

But even while she was missing Isaac and partly wishing she'd never left him, she knew she had to take the plunge in possibly ending the contagion for good. If she let the opportunity pass her by, she would feel guilty for the rest of her life for not even trying to make a difference.

And that was where she had met Robert.

Robert had welcomed Ellie into the mission with open arms, accepting her determination to change everything for the better. Along the way, she had met Damara and John Carver, the latter being an EarthGov soldier who had eventually aided Isaac as they searched for her on Tau Volantis.

The EarthGov captain actually ended up creating a lot of tension within the mission, especially when it came to Isaac. He didn't seem to understand what was going on between her and the engineer, and she knew that she'd made things a little too obvious when Isaac had made it back to them after the shuttle crash and she'd hugged him fiercely. Robert had treated them both with cold disdain after that, and Ellie had been frustrated to see that they were arguing when they needed to work together to proceed with the mission.

Love triangles were only entertaining when you weren't actually caught up in it.

However, there had been an abrupt end to their complex love triangle when Isaac had shot Robert after the Nexus incident. Once Ellie had learned of it, she'd been shocked to hear that Robert had actually turned on them and was ready to kill Isaac. Even though the matter of Robert's betrayal was quite disturbing in itself, Ellie couldn't help but be somewhat relieved that Isaac was all right.

She'd meant to speak those three words to Isaac, but then her shock at losing Robert and anger at their situation took over and she lashed out at Isaac, blaming him for shooting the captain even though she knew she would have done the same.

She regretted that too.

She regretted a lot of things, and another one of those was the fact that she'd dragged Isaac into what turned out to be just another mission to another Necromorph-infested place, like he'd just told them.

She held her breath as Isaac came face-to-face with Danik, Codex in hand, and the Unitologist leader finished Isaac's sentence. "... The key."

He held up a gun to Isaac's head at point-blank range, taking the Codex as he drawled, "To turning it off. Thank you for doing all the heavy lifting."

As Danik stepped back, the Codex in his hand, Ellie stepped forward, desperately trying to get him to understand. "No! It will home in on Earth's Markers and hunt us down! You don't understand what you're doing!"

The Unitologist keeping her captive nudged her roughly, and she reluctantly placed her hands on top of her head so she wouldn't get shot.

Danik, still pointing the gun at Isaac, said, "Oh, I misunderstood initially, that's true - but it's all quite clear to me, now. It's not only mankind's tampering which has hindered our glorious rebirth... But this alien Machine as well."

Beside Ellie, Carver growled, "Stay away from that Machine, Danik!"

Danik shook his head slightly, facing the two of them. "No. And now that I have this, I'll be able to turn it off." Turning back to Isaac, he said, "The natives of this planet chose death over evolution. Now I'll make sure humanity doesn't make the same mistake. We will, all of us, be made whole."

Ellie waited as he fell silent, but a fresh surge of anxiety washed over her as Danik said impatiently, "Well, come on, kill them!"

Rapidly, Isaac slammed his hand down on the button, releasing the decontaminant gas. Ellie seized her chance and grappled with the Unitologist behind her, throwing him into the gas and watching as he was burned to death. To Isaac, she shouted, "Isaac, the Codex!" as she saw Danik escaping.

She began running around the lab tables, trying to avoid the gas as well as make it to the door. She heard Carver and Isaac as they overrode the lockdown in the control booth, but as they stepped inside to get in the elevator, she realized she wasn't anywhere near them and that there was a definite possibility that she wouldn't make it.

As she jumped down from the lab structure, landing hard, she found that Isaac and Carver were waiting for her before they closed the door. Isaac shouted, "Ellie! Come on! Ellie!"

She hesitated as the gas around her swarmed closer and closer, pure fear making her voice crack as she cried back, "It's no good! It's moving too fast!"

She could see him still hesitating, beyond the gas, and she said, "Isaac, do it. Just... Do it!"

She would not allow them to die waiting for her. She had brought them to this planet, and she would get them out.

She wouldn't let Isaac die.

But would she ever get to say those three words?

Ellie couldn't wait any longer. It was time - she'd delayed for far too long. As Isaac and Carver began heaving the door closed and tears began streaming down her face, those three little and yet powerful words tumbled out of her mouth.

"Isaac... I love you."

**I can't read minds, but I feel like this might be what was running through Ellie's head at the time. **

**Please, please, please review!**


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